Melbourne recruitment market update: March 2019

There’s never a dull moment when you’re working in recruitment, which is partly thanks to the ever-shifting employment market.

Economic and political factors have a bearing on many aspects of recruitment, such as what skills employers are currently prioritising when making new hires, what market shortages and surpluses are in effect and what challenges recruitment and HR professionals face.

Whether you’re looking for talent or searching for a job, being aware of current market trends will increase your chances of success.

Here’s a roundup of what we’re currently experiencing across the accounting, finance and business support recruitment market in Melbourne.

1. Employers care more about culture fits and adds

“Employers are being more specific than in the past and want to see candidates who have industry experience, qualifications and the ability to contribute positively to their cultural environment”, says Megan Turner, our Director of business support recruitment.

However, while company culture is a highly important driver for HR professionals, for accounting and finance candidates salary is still the biggest draw when it comes to choosing an employer, according to research from SEEK.

2. The recruitment market is competitive and there are more roles than six months ago

Employers are rushing to make hires, which puts more pressure on recruiters to speed up the process. Strong candidates are also getting snapped up extremely quickly as recruitment agencies are increasingly pitted against each other.

This creates even more urgency, giving recruiters and hiring managers less time to provide a high quality full service search.

Recruiters need to be savvier than ever and use creative ways to speed up the hiring process without compromising on the quality of their service.

In turn, this makes good recruiters an even more precious commodity and the demand for experienced recruitment consultants continues to rise.

3. Employers are looking to hire staff on a permanent basis

This is making it difficult for hiring managers and recruiters to attract and gain commitment from candidates for short-term, temporary and contract work.

If you’re struggling to hire temporary staff but are hesitant to make the role permanent, we’d recommend offering temp-to-perm opportunities for the right candidate.

4. Melbourne employers are looking for long term commitment

“I’ve had several clients this week stress tenure and stable backgrounds”, says Natasha Jordan, our accounting support recruitment specialist. Many employers in Melbourne want to retain new hires for 3-5 years, but as the recruitment market becomes increasingly competitive, employers will have to work even harder to retain top talent.

Jobseekers should be quick to highlight their loyalty to previous employers during interviews and bring attention to long-term roles in their employment history.

5. Skills shortages remain the biggest challenge for the Australian recruitment industry

74% of recruitment professionals surveyed in Australia and New Zealand by Bullhorn cited skills shortages as their top hiring challenge in 2019.

However, although this can create problems for recruiters in an increasingly candidate-driven market, there’s an argument that this also presents an opportunity. Re-skilling or retraining candidate pools is a new area of exploration for innovate recruitment agencies who wish to diversify their offering and provide their clients with a fresh, added value service.

If you’d like to speak to an experienced recruitment consultant about current trends in your specific market, contact us today.